Find your zen at the Lake Shrine
A non-denominational organization that welcomes tourists but doesn't proselytize to them runs the mystical, enigmatic Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine, which is conveniently located just inland from the Pacific Coast Highway and simple to miss when you're rushing to watch the sunset. The magnificent gardens, which are located on a ten-acre location that was once a silent-era movie set, are reminiscent of old Hollywood. Keep an eye out for the Dutch windmill chapel, the Mississippi houseboat, and several gliding swans. A shrine containing some of Gandhi's ashes is enclosed by a gilded lotus gate, which symbolizes the East.
Information about Lake Shrine is available in the visitor center. White swans cross the lake, lacy fern grottos, lily ponds, statues, fountains, waterfalls, flowerbeds, and a Dutch windmill that serves as a chapel are all there. The Om symbol for Hinduism, the Star of David for Judaism, the Wheel of Law for Buddhism, the crescent moon and star for Islam, and the cross for Christianity are all shown in the Court of Religions, which honors the five major global religions. Yogananda held that all religions are fundamentally in harmony with one another. Above the waterfall, there is a life-size figure of Jesus Christ, Francis of Assisi, the Madonna and Child, as well as a few statues of Krishna and other Hindu deities.
All areas of the grounds may see the golden lotus archway, a tall, slender, white arch edged with blue tile and capped with gold lotus petals. The archway surrounds the Mahatma Gandhi World Peace Memorial, an outdoor memorial housing a portion of Mahatma Gandhi's ashes in a genuine 1,000-year-old Chinese stone sarcophagus. The gardens are full of tiny brick pathways and short staircases that branch off the main route and lead to secret alcoves where one can sit and meditate or simply take in the scenery. The gift shop, which is close to a museum devoted to Paramahansa Yogananda, the man who founded Lake Shrine, sells Indian arts and crafts. A houseboat, a bookstore, a Dutch windmill that has been transformed into a chapel, and a temple that overlooks the lake are also present.
